


Anchorage

by ZeePuri (ZeeCatfish)



Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Flying Dutchman AU, Implied Relationships, Mythology References
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-12
Updated: 2018-09-12
Packaged: 2019-07-11 13:11:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15973010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZeeCatfish/pseuds/ZeePuri
Summary: Kite Eishirou is a ship captain cursed to ferry people between the real world and the planes of the Otherworld in trade for something dear to them. Most of his journeys follow the same routine; pick up a traveler, get paid, drop off the traveler where they need to go, move on. Being left behind is just another part of his curse, after all.Except some travelers simply never leave.Or, five times Kite accidentally picks up a crewmember, and the one time he's grateful he did.





	Anchorage

_A little dog darts between the late evening crowd milling about the pier, seemingly searching for something._

_He’s been there for a while, sniffing from person to person while accepting the occasional rub behind the ears from curious children before moving on._

_Eventually the dog turns back and ambles back over to a gloomy looking ship docked at the far side of the dock. The people passing it by barely seem to pay it much heed, which is somewhat strange considering the size of the ship; it’s clearly old, the ocean water has set into the wood until it’s swollen up, deforming the original, much sleeker build of the ship into a menacing looking thing that looms over the dockside._

_There’s some hesitation before the dog walks the plank back up towards the deck, while he looks around almost like he’s checking to see whether he’s been followed._

_The wood sounds as old as it looks, creaking ominously first under the light paw-pads of the dog and then under the much heavier weight of the quiet shadow trailing after him._

_Something in the air changes once they hit the deck, like a wind has settled in to blow away the fishmongers’ market smells and instead brought in a difficult to place sweet tang of something distant and foreign._

_Where the little dog stood moments before now stands a slender young man with wild hair the same auburn hue as the dog’s fur and the same thin silver chain with a ring dangling around his neck._

_“Lemme get the captain for ya,” he says, giving a clumsy little half bow before bounding off towards the upper deck, where the officers’ quarters are and hollering something loud and hard to understand._

_When he returns, he’s followed by a muscular, tanned man with an eyepatch and covered in enough gold jewelry it’s almost a miracle he doesn’t sink through the rotten parts in the floorboards on the spot. The captain’s single eye is a bright, inhuman violet, and every once in a while there’s a shimmer to his appearance, like his physical existence falters and flutters out of and back into existence._

_“So,” he starts, “I hear you’re seeking passage. Tell me, how much is this journey worth to you?”_

 

—

 

Tall, bright spires break through the deep darkness of the oceans of the inbetween, the water coloring from an impossibly bottomless black void into a star-speckled blue.

It’s not often Kite finds his ship on a course towards the Celestial plane without a passenger to deliver. The golden city cares little for travelers and strangers, and less still for cursed beings like him and his ship.

But the Dark Horse sails with purpose, and she wouldn’t have guided him here if there wasn’t a passenger waiting for him at these shores. He gently pushes the steering wheel starboard to ease the ship towards the gold and spun glass docks of this city of Gods.

It’s an ethereal sight, the way the gently glowing golden towers pierce the ink black skies, a latticework of reflective materials binding them together, making a thousand smaller towers each a piece of one greater whole. The city looks so finely crafted it might bend at the slightest breeze, but Kite knows it has withstood millennia of war between the Deva and the Asura.

Once, Kite thinks somewhat melancholically, he would have killed a man to see these shores. Now he’s here, but the cursed blood in his veins won’t even let him walk off his ship to see whether the gold shines as bright up close.

Just as he turns to whistle for Kai, to help dock the ship and have him go and seek out whoever is in need of passage, he catches sight of a flash of silver at the very edge of the water. 

Hirakoba Rin.

The long-haired Deva sits with his legs crossed and his eyes closed, clearly waiting for something. Waiting, most likely, for the Dark Horse to dock.

“Kai-kun,” Kite calls out, watching as Hirakoba’s head shoots up upon hearing his voice echo over the water. Behind him, he can hear Kai stumble out of the hold.

“Oh!” Kai exclaims with a grin, squinting at the impossible brightness of the golden city, where there is no need for night or day in between the shine of the spires and the stars glowing in the water. “Been a while since we’ve ended up here. Wonder who it’ll be this time?”

Wordlessly, Kite inclines his head towards Hirakoba. Kai makes another sound of surprise before strolling over to the ship’s bow and draping himself over the edge.

“Giving it another go, Hirakoba?” he calls out with a cheerful wave.

Hirakoba has attempted to hitch a ride with them before, more than once. Clearly bored of his gilded cage, the Deva has tried to bribe Kite with various riches to take him off to see more of the realms Kite’s ship can reach.

But the rules Kite follows are strict, and his passengers must truly need his help before he can accept them aboard. And even if he’d allowed Hirakoba’s motivations, riches alone do not cover the hefty fee that comes with passing the oceans inbetween. 

And yet, as he watches Hirakoba scramble to his feet (not anywhere near as elegantly as one might expect from a heavenly being), Kite’s gut tells him he won’t be turning the Deva away today.

Instead of answering with some witticism Hirakoba simply stares at them in silence, leaving Kai to awkwardly flounder until it’s time to tie the ship down, while Kite weighs the anchor.

Between Kite, bound to his ship as he is, and Kai, who can only leave it in the guise of a small dog, docking the ship is a tricky errand not helped for the ship’s size. As is, they can only pull it off because of the many years of practice they’ve had, and it takes them only a few minutes to properly pull the ship close enough to the dock to tie it down and lower the walkway.

Once it’s down, Hirakoba doesn’t waste any time in boarding the ship.

He doesn’t have any of his usual flourish, instead walking with tight steps and balled fists. 

“I need to go to the Underworld,” Hirakoba tells him firmly, glaring him down like he’s expecting Kite to tell him no.

But there’s a sharpness to the air that Kite has come to learn over time is the taste of _need_. It’s the aura of someone who needs his help enough they might willingly agree to part with the price of the journey. Kite doesn’t think he’ll need to turn Hirakoba down today.

“It’ll cost you,” Kite tells him, folding his arms to meet Hirakoba’s nervous anger with a flat, dispassionate stare. “Something dear to your heart.”

“I know,” Hirakoba bites out, hair raising up slightly and writhing in a way that is oddly reminiscent of serpents. Kai awkwardly shuffles around to hide behind Kite, who just tilts his head in mild interest. 

He knew, at least theoretically, that Hirakoba’s grandmother is a Gorgon, and an ancient one at that. Visually, however, her grandchildren appear as celestial as any Deva in the golden city. The only differences he’s noticed different about them are their cat-like slitted pupils and a shimmer of scales largely hidden under long-sleeved robes. 

Now, though, with his hair coiling around him Kite can see the snake in him.

Perhaps if Kite had been mortal still, he would have been afraid. Instead he keeps his arms crossed casually, waiting for Hirakoba to regain his composure.

When he does, he holds out an ornate blade made out of glass that certainly looks beautiful and valuable. But material wealth doesn’t cover the costs of a journey across the ocean between the different planes of existence, and Kite doesn’t reach out to take it.

“For my hair,” Hirakoba says stubbornly. “A normal blade can’t cut it, but this one can. Just a part should cover it, right?”

“For real? You’re giving us your hair? That’s kind of… Well, that’s kind of gross, actually?” Kai half says, half asks, peering over Kite’s shoulder until Kite flicks him in the face.

Hirakoba’s hair is long enough it reaches his knees, and looks sleek and well-kept. But more than that, Kite realises, the magic in Hirakoba’s hair is likely the source of his powers as a whole. It’s a good price, he thinks. One the goddess he serves, in all her pickiness over the offerings he accepts, will not turn down.

This time Kite accepts the knife, only to pass it onto Kai once he has it into his hands. “Hold this.”

Hirakoba watches him, visibly wary, as he walks up. “You could at least be a little gentle about it,” he complains when Kite grasps a handful of the hair by his temple, but he doesn’t so anything to stop Kite from plaiting the locks of hair in a quick, tight braid.

It’s more than Hirakoba wants to give, Kite can tell, but that’s how he knows the price is right. If there were no reluctance, it wouldn’t have counted.

He finds himself wondering, as he watches Hirakoba’s eyes screw shut, what it is that is driving Hirakoba to the realm of the dead with this kind of determination. But Kite doesn’t ask his passengers questions. He sees too many, coming and going who-knows-where, many of whom he knows he ferries to their death.

Kite hold his hand up towards Kai, who hands him the knife. He looks like he wants to say something, probably another complaint about the weirdness of acceptain hair as a payment.

“You’re sure about this?” Kite asks as he lifts the long silver braid up, almost surprised at the weight of it. Hirakoba must hide impressive shoulder muscles under his flowy robes to be able to uphold a full head of this.

Hirakoba keeps his eyes firmly shut and nods, biting down on his bottom lip as Kite raises the knife up to only a few centimeters away from his cheek.

Then he slices through the base of the braid in one clean movement.

The section of cut hair by Hirakoba’s temple slowly loses it’s silver sheen, bleeding into a sandy grey-brown and then darker still until it settles into a near-black. It falls around Hirakoba’s left ear choppily, the knife-made cut practical but inelegant, but he jerks his head back before Kite can raise the knife again to tidy it up.

“Calm down,” Kite orders when he notices something feral creeping into Hirakoba’s expression, slitted pupils shrinking into a hair-thin black stripe. “Your price is paid, Hirakoba-kun. I will sail you to the underworld.”

“Right,” Hirakoba says, voice very small now, as his expression shutters into something cold and neutral.

The long braid of silver hair on the floor twitch and writhes in place, the final coils of a dying serpent. It shudders when Kite reaches down and runs his fingers over it, letting his own magic seal up the almost wound-like cut he’s made, trapping the shimmery, almost glowing silver inside the braid.

Kite knows the value of what he’s holding, the distance people would go for both the hair of a Deva and a Gorgon. He has no real use for it himself, having his own gods-damned magic ‘gifted’ to him so he can do his job, but that’s no reason to be anything less than perfectly careful with his newest treasure.

He rolls the braid into a tightly coiled ball, ignoring the way Hirakoba is stubbornly looking in any direction but his, and hands it over to Kai. 

“Put that in the hold,” he orders.

Kai looks from the ball of hair in his hands up to Kite’s face with an expression that speaks volumes of the way he feels about holding someone’s cut hair in his bare hands. Whatever protest he may have considered giving, though, gets cut off when he catches Kite’s glare.

“Welcome aboard the Dark Horse, Hirakoba-kun,” Kite says, as he steps past him to pull the walkboard back up onto the ship. It’s perhaps the shortest visit they’ve ever had to pick up a new passenger, even among those who knew who they were calling on and what it would cost them. “I hope it’s the adventure you assumed it would be.”

—

Hirakoba’s simmering seems to settle down as the Dark Horse slides through the water, which fades from the starburst ocean of the celestial plane into the darkness of the ocean inbetween.

The air shifts, from the scent of honeyed wine and spicy teas of the golden city to the silted, cutting storms that hang over the voids. The sails, in patched together tatters as they are, go fully taut.

It won’t help them any, Kite knows, because these seas don’t follow the rhyme and reason of normalcy. His ship takes him where he needs to go, feeding on his magic and ignoring the winds around them, which may look and feel powerful, but never truly push any ship forward.

There is a reason his ship is the only means to cross these paths.

Kite isn’t looking for him per se, but he finds Hirakoba near the stern of the ship, looking a little green around the edges. 

“You’re free to go inside,” Kite offers as he settles beside the steering wheel, resting a hand on one of its handles as he lets his magic feel out the direction of the undercurrent of the realm of the dead and dying.

“Are you kidding me?” Hirakoba demands, stubbornly clinging to the wooden railing even though Kite knows the wood is worn and prone to splintering.

He’d tried maintaining it, once upon a time, but materials aren’t commonplace for captains who are cursebound to stay aboard their ship.

“It’s less cold inside the guest quarters,” Kite says. “And you’ll be able to lie down. It helps with seasickness, I’ve been told.”

“I’m not seasick,” Hirakoba says, staring down into the water looking seasick. “And I finally got you to take me along, I’m not just going to sleep through this.”

“Suit yourself,” Kite replies, catching the briefest flash of the scent of decay on the winds and throwing over the rear to change course.

“You could offer to entertain me, you know,” Hirakoba pouts, making an effort at walking over before the deck rolls with the waves and he has to return to hanging onto the railing.

“I’m steering the ship,” Kite says drily. “You paid me your due. It’s not a short journey, Hirakoba-kun. Distracting me will only make it longer.”

Thankfully, Kai chooses that moment to come back from his duties checking over the masts and knots for structural weaknesses. The ship doesn’t use the winds in these oceans, but there are others where they _do_ need to rely on their sails, and it’s hard to properly mend anything when it’s broken when the only way to get supplies is to send Kai out on errands in dog form.

“Oh, you havin’ trouble with your sea-legs?” Kai asks, looking over at Hirakoba with a teasing grin that borders on mean. “Want me to help you inside?”

“Why do both of you expect me to go inside?” Hirakoba asks as indignantly as he can manage while being kept upright by hugging splintered old wood.

“Becau~use,” Kai drawls in his annoying little sing-song, “you look like you’re gonna lose your lunch. Dinner. Whatever you had last.”

“I’m not!” Hirakoba protests, still looking a bit green around the gills. Scales? His loose robes have slipped enough that Kite notices hints of glittering scales speckle the base of his shoulders.

“You totally are,” Kai laughs, and Kite closes his eyes and returns his focus to feeling the waves and the wind to keep on course while Kai keeps their guest occupied with petty arguing.

The Underworld is not a place Kite enjoys docking at. It’s stunning bleached bone white palaces and the ocean of memories lapping at the ship isn’t enough to make him forget that, so long as he carries his curse, he cannot find peace here, nor in the cycle of rebirth or the eternal fields.

The land of the dead exists to torment him.

“C’mon then, I’ll show you ‘round the ship,” Kai’s barking laughter interrupts his melancholic musing, and when he opens his eyes again Hirakoba is standing upright on his own feet, if poised to grab onto Kai’s shoulder the moment he loses his balance.

It’s not quite a storm rocking the ship, but Kite realises with some amusement that to someone who has never been aboard one before the waves are far, far too strong to adjust to easily. Even Kai is stumbling slightly, adjusting to the constant rocking of the deck even as he leads a slowly shuffling Hirakoba back down to the main deck.

He drums his fingers on the wheel, and the lanterns strung up throughout the ship light up in the blackness of the non-existence of night and day with gently glowing magenta flames. Kai gives him a grateful informal salute over his shoulder that Kite would have once punished crewmembers for, for disrespecting rank, but now only answers with a silent nod.

He’ll let Kai take care of their guest.

—

There are no mornings or evenings in the oceans inbetween, only a neverending blackness that makes keeping track of time an impossible enigma. 

Even Kite, whose cursed sentence is measured in years upon years of servitude, has long since lost track of the passage of time.

But for all that he can neither truly live nor truly die, Kite still needs to rest his magic to keep the ship on course. So he lowers the anchor, which keeps them in place in spite the lack of an ocean floor to tether them in place, and makes his way to the captain’s cabin.

The room is as tattered and time-worn as the rest of the ship, full of dusty gold and tarnished silver; the ferryman’s fees from the early days, when he was too easily swayed by material riches and forgot about the curse’s demand on the heart. 

A heavy tapestry hangs over the wall where he’d once tried to carve the passage of days, before he’d lost count between the hours of unending darkness, before the years mistakenly accepted tributes began to add up to his sentence.

There’s closets full of clothes, a faded painting on the wall of a younger him, posing for the artist holding a small brown dog. Relics to a person he only vaguely recalls being, many years ago.

As he lies down on his bed and pulls the moth-eaten comforter over his shoulders, he can hear the lilt of Hirakoba’s voice through the walls as well as Kai’s response, though not quite enough to make out their words.

Kai has always been more willing to listen to the travellers, hear out their stories and keep them company during their travels. Maybe that’s because he’s lonely, after too many hours spent sharing the ship only with Kite or maybe he truly isn’t bothered by the reminder that the rest of the world moves on without them.

He can hear Kai’s laughter, eventually followed by Hirakoba’s, and tries not to wonder too much about the reason of this journey. Maybe it’s because he’s known Hirakoba for as long as he has, as a consistent nuisance anytime he’s docked the ship at the golden city.

When it comes to him, his sleep is restless, haunted by whispers of passengers he’s guided to an early grave, Hirakoba’s chief among them.

—

Keeping Kai from his duties isn’t good enough for Hirakoba, who routinely interrupts Kite at the steering wheel to complain how bored he is, and ask how much longer they’ll take.

By now, Kite has heard everything from how badly Hirakoba detests the guest quarters to how much more interesting the treasure in the hold he isn’t allowed to touch is.

“You could at least serve food,” Hirakoba says as he hangs over the railing looking out over the ship, idly playing with a golden coin he must have pilfered from Kite’s room at some point. It hadn’t taken him long at all to get his sea legs under him properly, and Kite already misses the time he had to spend clinging to things to stay upright without throwing up.

“Time doesn’t pass normally here,” he explains for what has to be at least the fifth time. “Your body doesn’t need food in the inbetween the way it does elsewhere.”

Hirakoba pouts at him, clearly disgruntled. “Doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be _nice_. Considering what you charge, you’d think you would offer some kind of special service to keep people comfortable.”

“Well, maybe you should find a competing service that happens to be more comfortable to sail back then,” Kite says sarcastically. “Except there are none.”

“I still say you should try,” Hirakoba says.

“If people had to eat food prepared by Kai-kun, they may not even reach their destination alive, Hirakoba-kun.”

“Well, you could do it,” Hirakoba points out. “I mean, all you do is turn a big crank all day and stare into the distance. I bet Kai could do it just as easily.”

“Kai-kun isn’t steering my ship,” Kite snaps, offended at the thought of it alone. “And you’ll just have to go without. We don’t have food supplies onboard anyway.”

“I could try-“

“You’re not steering my ship either. This isn’t a game, Hirakoba-kun.” Kite gives him a frustrated glare, wanting nothing more in the moment than to be left alone.

“You’re so boring, Kite-kun,” Hirakoba says, leaning his chin on his hands. “No wonder you’re so grumpy all the time, you never do anything fun.”

“You’re paying me for safe passage, not for entertainment. The more time you waste distracting me, the longer it takes until we reach our destination.”

“So it’ll be, what, a few hours longer? Taking a break won’t kill you, you know.”

“I know,” Kite grinds out between clenched teeth. “Nothing will kill me. I’m already dead.”

“Give it up, Hirakoba,” Kai interrupts from the ladder up to the upper deck. “It’s no use, he’s not gonna budge. We’re almost there though, there’s death in the water. C’mon, lemme show you.”

—

The oceans of the underworld shimmer with a silvery sheen, treacherously calm on the surface. If Kite looks over the edge of the ship, he knows he’ll see the memories of his old crew flicker across the slight waves, brief flashes of the lives of people whose paths he’s crossed who have since perished.

He doesn’t look, though. He doesn’t need to know what became of the small boy he’d ferried to the land of Beasts, or the sickly man he’d brought to the fae world for a final lease on life.

Hirakoba and Kai hang over the railing, though, while Kai explains the concept of the sea of souls to a clearly fascinated Hirakoba.

The winds whisper in voices Kite remembers but can’t quite place, too quietly to make out any words.

Kite understands from this realm, more than any other, why it might drive those that don’t belong mad.

They approach the bleached bone white city, with its jagged, knife-like walls and eerily silent streets. The city of the dead looks like it could house tens of thousends, maybe millions of citizens, but the denizens of the realm of the dead are few and far in between. For all intents of purposes it might as well be a ghost town.

There are no fish in this ocean, so the docks are very nearly empty when they land in them, the only ships tied down there the gondolas meant to traverse up the river Lethe towards death gods’ citadel. Somewhere in the city something slithers out of the streets into the nearest dark corner, unused to visitors and unwilling for company.

Hirakoba looks reluctant, and Kite can’t blame him. The white city is as beautiful as the city of gold in its own way, but it’s hard to look beyond the ominous gloom of it to see that, especially if bustle and luxury are all you’ve ever known.

He’s not sure what makes him do it, but Kite walks over towards Hirakoba while Kai secures the ship and places a hand on his shoulder, ignoring the slight shudder the contact earns him. He knows his skin is cold and clammy, dead to the touch.

“Don’t eat any food anyone offers you,” Kite tells him. “If you do, you’ll never be able to leave this place.”

“Will you be here?” Hirakoba asks, his voice only barely steady enough to hide an undercurrent of fear, but also something like excitement. “When I leave, I mean?”

“If you need a way back, the ship will know,” Kite affirms. “But the price you’ve paid only covered one way. The way back will cost you.”

Hirakoba self consciously runs a hand through his hair, which looks strange and lopsided now that a chunk of it barely reaches his jawline and contrasts so starkly with the pure silver right next to it. “Guess I better get used to looking like a deranged skunk, huh.”

Some part of Kite wants to point out this isn’t his doing, that Hirakoba offered his fee voluntarily, but this doesn’t feel like the right time for it.

Instead he watches Kai finish up with the ropes and lowers the walkway, stepping aside to allow Hirakoba to pass.

It’s another traveller safely delivered to his destination, and even a promise of a trip back should Hirakoba survive long enough to need one. Somehow Kite doesn’t feel very satisfied.

—

Because there are no days or nights to count in the oceans of the realm in between realms, Kite can’t tell how long it’s been since they’ve dropped Hirakoba Rin off at the white city. 

The Dark Horse brings them to Niflheim, where he rejects the frozen heart of a prince before he even learns the destination the man has in mind. The heart is given too easily, too cold to feel the sacrifice Kite demands. 

And so after three days and nights of failed negotiation and additional offerings of riches and sacred treasure that means more to the people of his realm than it means to the prince trying to give it away, the Dark Horse sails onwards.

Next, they are called towards a young fae girl in love with a human, who does not know her desire has summoned them until Kai leads her towards the ship. It’s clear she wants to accept, to take the only path towards the human realm that will allow her to circumvent the many rules dictated by the faerie queen Mab.

But she has little to give, and the only thing she holds dear enough to cover the costs would be the one thing that would make passage worth it.

It isn’t the first time Kite has been turned away with empty hands. Even though he is the captain of the ship, it’s been a long time he has been allowed to set her course. He can offer passage to those who desire it, but he can’t force them to accept.

That doesn’t stop him from feeling frustrated as his ships slips back into the oceans of the void.

—

Hirakoba calls them back after what might be two weeks or two months, standing in wait for them at the white docks of the underworld holding the unconscious (dead?) form of a young woman with hair as long and silver as the parts of his own that haven’t been cut. 

More of it is gone now than when he last saw him, Kite realises as they sail into port. Like the deranged skunk he’d predicted himself to look like, the hair on the right side of his head has been unevenly shorn to match the cut Kite made, perhaps a little shorter. Clearly, Kite isn’t the only one who has been bargained with.

He watches dispassionately as Hirakoba drags the woman on board, recognising her as the older sister he’s only ever seen standing by the docks, looking mildly disapproving of her brother’s attempts to bribe Kite into taking him along.

Up this close, he can tell she’s still breathing. Her long, silver hair looks matted and unkempt, and even with her heavy robes he can tell she’s lost more weight than a Deva should be able to. They don’t starve, as far as he knows, so she must have been deprived of her magic for a long time to have been reduced to such a pitiful state.

“I can’t take a fee from someone who isn’t awake to choose it, Hirakoba-kun,” he says, kneeling down next to the woman. Even if he could have, he doesn’t know if her values are the same as her little brother’s, if she has anything on her that is worth taking.

Hirakoba swallows thickly, pulling his sister close to his chest before he asks, with a very small voice, “Can I pay for her?”

Kite eyes him critically. If he maintains the same price as before, it’ll cost Hirakoba all of the magic left in his hair for the both of them. He’s willing to take that price, but… 

“You won’t be able to go back,” Kite tells Hirakoba almost gently, something like pity pulling at his still heart. “Without your hair, you-“

“I know!” Hirakoba cuts him off. “I know I can’t live in the golden city without my hair.”

Being cut off from the source of his power like this entirely will leave Hirakoba weak and vulnerable. The Deva won’t welcome him, and the magic interwoven with the golden city will gradually strangle him. It’s the price for a journey, but at the same time, it’s far, far too much to ask for.

But Hirakoba has nothing else to offer, and his sister is clearly in a bad shape. Leaving them in the city of the dead won’t help anything.

“Where will you go?” Kite asks. “I’ll accept if you’re sure, but you need a destination.”

“I’m sure! I know I’m sure, but, I don’t know where. Can’t you just go anywhere?”

“That isn’t how it works,” Kite says, shaking his head. “I need to be able to seek out the right currents. The only time the ship charts a course on her own is when she’s found a new passenger.”

“So can’t he just stick around until we’re passing somewhere he likes?” Kai interrupts, hovering awkwardly by the walkway as if he isn’t sure whether he should haul it back in or keep it there. No agreement has been reached yet, so normally raising it now would be premature.

Kite wants to protest, to say it’s never been done like that before. He has his ways of doing things, the way they’ve worked for years, and there isn’t any need on his end for change at all. Then he makes the mistake of looking over at Hirakoba, who will lose his home and sister for the sake of saving her, and his resolve crumbles.

“Fine,” he says with a deep sigh, “I’ll take your sister back to the golden city. We’ll see where the ship takes us from there.”

Hopefully somewhere warm and beautiful, where Hirakoba is bound to be tempted into staying without too much fuss. The last thing Kite needs is a visitor staying too long past his welcome.

Kai whoops and does an odd little dance before remembering that might not be the most appropriate thing to do with Hirakoba’s sister slumped on the floor, quite literally on death’s doorstep.

Kite gives him an odd look while Hirakoba starts to braid his own hair, perhaps a little more aggressively than is strictly necessary. Laughing awkwardly, Kai sinks down onto the deck and lets his head hang apologetically. Once, Kite thinks somewhat fondly, he would have rolled over to show his belly.

“Here,” Hirakoba says as he pushes the glass knife into Kite’s hands again, eyes scrunched shut like he’s bracing for a punch. “Just get it over with.”

This time the braid he is cutting is much thicker, the cost of two and then some. He supposes the devastation of losing the source of most of his magical power, his ability to live with his family and the beautiful hair he clearly treasures is enough to compensate for the extra trouble Kite has to go through.

He’s more careful than the previous cut, slicing slowly to ensure he keeps Hirakoba’s hair as evenly as he can manage.

Hirakoba looks different without his silver hair. Not bad, but strange, with his choppy black hair reaching to his neck. It’ll grow back to a decent length soon enough, probably faster than it would for anyone without Hirakoba’s heritage, but it will never glow silver again, and the snake spirit within will not return.

“Kai-kun,” Kite says, voice snapping back into his more commanding captain tone, causing Kai to leap to his feet. 

“Right-o, Eishirou, want me to take that to the hold?” The thought of holding on to all of that hair clearly still creeps Kai out, but he’s eager to make up for his social blunder. Instead of handing over the braid, however, Kite shakes his head and points at the girl. 

“I’ll take care of this. Help Hirakoba get his sister to the guestroom.”

“Right,” Kai agrees, nodding vigorously as he scrambles over to Hirakoba’s side. Kite gathers up the braid, figuring he can leave the logistics of moving one slip of a woman to the two of them. It would probably be easier if he picked the girl up, being heavier and stronger than either Kai or Hirakoba, but there’s something else he wants to do.

Their last visit to the temple of his patron goddess is recent enough that the hold is close to empty, no more than twenty-odd treasures hidden away in heavy wooden chests. Kite doesn’t come here much, usually leaving the sorting and stacking of their precious cargo to Kai.

It takes him a few tries to find the chest containing the first braid, which still glows a soft moonlight silver, magic carefully preserved in the chest.

Before he adds the second braid, though, he does something he hasn’t done before. He takes five strands of long hair and peels them out of the thick braid, carefully rolling them up and sticking them into his pocket, his own personal share of their latest loot. Then he puts the remaining braid into the chest and locks it

—

The Hirakoba matriarch, Hirakoba’s gorgon grandmother is waiting for them at the docks of the golden city. Her serpentine features are much, much stronger than her grandchildren’s, her hair an impressive updo of carefully wound together snakes holding an ornate crown of meticulously sculpted and gilded quartz flowers in place over her head.

She’s also radiating fury strong enough that Kite sends Kai to the hold before they can touch ground. It’s annoying to have to tie the ship down himself, but it’s preferable over having his first mate turned into a statue because Kite dragged him into some gorgon family drama.

Hirakoba reluctantly walks down the walkway, and his grandmother audibly gasps when she sees his shorn black hair. “Rin, what did those monsters _do_ to you?” she hisses, at least a hundred of beady snake eyes accusingly focusing on where Kite is standing.

“ _Obaa!_ ” Hirakoba says, sounding both mortified and emotional. Kite supposes that’s a normal enough combination considering Hirakoba has already had time to accept this might very well be the last time he gets to see his grandmother. “Kite didn’t do anything. Nothing I didn’t ask, anyway. But Rei, she-”

“Oh honey,” his grandmother croons, cupping his face between her hands, “what happened to your sister isn’t your fault. But just because it’s too late for her…”

“Rei’s _alive_ , grandma,” Hirakoba protests. “We got her back, but she needs help, she’s not well. Please, I can’t help her anymore.”

Seeing a gorgon gasp in surprise is an interesting sight. First the woman goes, then in a wave going from front to back every individual snake recoils in surprise. It’s a testament to her fast reflexes that they manage to catch the floral crown before it falls into pieces on the golden cobblestones.

“Shes… Oh baby,” she grabs Hirakoba into a tight hug. “Baby what have you done to yourself?”

“It’s fine, grandma. I’m… I’ll be fine. Kite promised he’ll let me tag along until I find a good place to settle down. It was worth it, okay?” Hirakoba’s voice sounds somewhat teary, and Kite suddenly feels he’s intruding in a more private moment than he is welcome at. 

Hirakoba Rei hasn’t woken up at all during their journey back, and as Kite gathers the girl into his arms to bring her up to the walkway for someone else to take her she weighs frighteningly little. Hirakoba had reassured him they would be able to help her here, where her magical centre could recoup within the safe confines of the city, and that getting her there as fast as possible was the only way to help her.

It’s the first time he’s sailed with this tight a deadline, and Kite is more than ready to never accept a rush job again, feeling the headache from overexerting his magic throb between his temples.

Hirakoba’s grandmother calls for someone else, who he presumes is some sort of servant, to take Rei from him, and Kite decides against continuing to watch the spectacle any longer. He’s pretty sure he can fill in the blanks now, can figure out what brought Hirakoba to the underworld, and what happened during his stay there.

Once he’s sure his passenger has made it to the shore safely he retreats to his cabin, giving Hirakoba the time and privacy to do what he needs to before leaving. There, he returns his focus to his desk where the five hairs he’s taken from his prize lie, and gets to work.

—

Kai and Hirakoba are sitting near the helm of the ship, laughing and talking over what looks like some kind of game played with dice.

“That’s not how it works, Yuujirou,” Hirakoba says in between wheezing laughter, patting a put out looking Kai on the back unnecesarily roughly.

“Yeah, well you suck at explaining this shit, Rin,” Kai returns with a slight shove before bursting out into laughter himself as well. 

It’s a strange sight, and Kite leans up against the shadowy side of the head mast, observing.

He knows, rationally, that Kai has been lonely for a long time. Kite doesn’t begrudge him the company of their travelers, even if he prefers not to seek it out himself.

That doesn’t make it any less strange to suddenly not be Kai’s first choice to seek out on cold nights or to talk with (or, on the less good days, talk at) when he’s feeling alone. 

Kite also hasn’t missed the change from ‘Kai-kun’ and ‘Hirakoba’ to Yuujirou and Rin. It isn’t the first time that Kai has switched to more informal forms of address with one of their guests, but it’s different with Hirakoba, who seems in no real hurry to leave.

There’s a part of Kite that wants to be petty, to try and drive a wedge between the budding friendship. He could even justify it, by trying to remind Kai that inevitably Hirakoba will have to leave, and that it will hurt less if he doesn’t get too close.

“Hirakoba-kun,” he calls out instead as he steps out of the shadows right behind them, earning himself a pair of startled, wide-eyed looks. “Do you have a moment?”

“Why can’t you just walk up to people like a normal person? Why do you always, _always_ do this?” Hirakoba asks him, crossing his arms with a huff until Kai elbows him in the side. “ Fine, fine, what is it?”

Ignoring the jab at being abnormal, which is hardly something Kite finds insulting, he reaches out into his pocket and pulls out a necklace.

Five thin, silver strands of hair have been woven into a sturdy, solid chain-like pattern, with three lavender colored glass beads dangling from the centre. Hirakoba’s eyes go wide when he registers what he’s being given, and his hands shake slightly as he holds them up.

“I can’t make it grow back like it was,” Kite says before he can sow the seeds of false hope, because surely someone as innately in touch with his own magic as Hirakoba can feel the true weight of the incantations in the beads. “But some of it will come back to it if you wear it. Maybe it’ll be enough you can go home one day.”

“This is…” Hirakoba starts, actually sounding a little choked up, “but why?”

“Maybe I felt you overpaid,” Kite suggests, carefully keeping his face blank and difficult to read. Hirakoba doesn’t need to know it’s a whim even Kite himself can’t quite explain. 

“Feels like you, Eishirou,” Kai observes, staring into the glass beads looking somewhat hypnotised. “Shouldn’t it feel like Rin, if it’s kinda made out of him?”

Kite shakes his head and watches Hirakoba wind the necklace around his neck, shaking his head to make sure none of his already regrowing hair gets stuck beneath it. “Hirakoba’s magic is no longer a part of him. I created that to allow his body to slowly readjust to the feel of it and hopefully make it begin to regrow a little, but it’s still inherently tied to the mine and the ship’s magic to keep it functional.”

“So if it’s tied to the ship…”

“It will cease to function once Hirakoba-kun leaves, yes.”

Maybe he’s imagining things, but it almost looks like the hair that got trapped below the necklace has turned just the slightest hue lighter at the point of contact.

Then Hirakoba throws his arms around Kite and moves in to kiss him on the cheek. “Thank you, Eishirou,” he whispers into Kite’s ear before stepping back and striking a pose Kai’s way.

“So, how do I look?” 

“I guess it’s cool it doesn’t really look like hair this way. I mean, a necklace of hair… that’s a little creepy, you know?” Kai looks dubious but intruiged.

Hirakoba huffs. “You’re just jealous because my old hair is so much better than that thing on your head.” 

“Hey!” Kai protests, though he’s smiling. “At least I didn’t just slice mine off with a knife.”

“Well at least I didn’t just lose at dice five times in a row,” Hirakoba shoots back, throwing his hands up.

“That’s just because you _suck_ at explaining things. Hey Eishirou, you should play with us, then you can tell him too!”

Kite should be returning to his cabin, or stand at the wheel to feel out around for new passengers, or maybe prepare an excuse towards his patron goddess lest she notices he’s taken some of one of the gifts gathered in her name.

Instead he sits down beside them and pushes up his glasses, giving Hirakoba the flattest stare he can with only one eye. Between the two of them, he’s pretty confident he is the better cheater.

“Bring it,” he says, and if he’s smiling ever so slightly, nobody mentions it.


End file.
